News

Occam's Razor

 In philosophy, Occam's is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. It is also known as the principle of parsimony or the law of parsimony. Attributed to William of Ockham, a 14th-century English philosopher and theologian, the principle is sometimes paraphrased as "The simplest explanation is usually the best one”. This razor states that when presented with competing hypotheses about the same prediction and both hypotheses have equal explanatory power, one should prefer the hypothesis that requires the fewest assumptions. 

Right, now that you have read all that, let’s apply Occam’s Razor to the concept that trophy hunting is beneficial to the conservation of wild species. 

1. The simplest explanation (truthful) is that trophy hunters always want to take the biggest and the best. Elephants, lions, antelopes, wild goats, you can name them all. 

2. Counterarguments that trophy hunting benefits local communities are not sufficiently proven. Nor have those that claim trophy hunting provides anti-poaching, income to participating nations to protect wildlife, provides more land to wildlife species outside protected areas, claims that lands protected by hunting concessions are much more extensive than provided by national parks, that trophy hunting quotas are carefully set, etc. No mention at all in those arguments about the income derived by trophy hunting operators and associated businesses like taxidermists, transporters of trophies to their trophy rooms, costs to mention of costs to regulatory and customs agents employing the necessary staff to monitor all this. And let’s not even mention the costs to trophy hunting organizations to lobby governments and their bought “academics”. 

3. And then there are all the moral and ethical arguments. Those are secondary, via the Razor. Morals and ethics vary by nations and societies influenced by finance and are too complicated to receive a simple explanation. Trophy hunting operators and supporters have simply been seduced by finance to support the insupportable - take the best and leave the rest. And then abandon the concession when all commercial extraction has been exhausted. 

4. Claims that those who would impose bans in their nations on imports of selected endangered and vulnerable species are neo-colonial, imposing their will on poorer nations are also insupportable and hysterical. Trophy hunters are by a large majority white, foreign, and have no interest in the culture or history of the nations that provide them with the opportunities their bank accounts facilitate.

So – time to cut to the quick as Occam’s Razor proposes. Cut out the nonsense and address the realities. In which case trophy hunting fails as a wildlife conservation concept.

Please support us if you can.  A monthly donation to LionAid would make a huge difference to our ability to save this iconic species. We rely on all donations to fund our work. Thank you for your support.

And please vote for us in the MyGivingCircle promotion. The more votes we get, the greater the chance of winning a share of the grants offered.